The invention relates to a device for dividing a transport stream of upright containers into two partial transport streams.
Devices of this type are also called “Y-switches” and are used, for example, in the pharmaceutical industry to distribute bottles, ampules, or other containers.
There are many different ways in which devices of this type for dividing a transport stream of upright containers can be designed. Many of these devices use mechanical means such as rotating receiver plates, in the recesses of which the containers are received and from which they are then discharged into the desired distribution line. These types of designs are complicated and are not suitable for fragile containers.
In a simple embodiment of a device for dividing a transport stream of upright containers, the containers are conveyed along a single path by a feed device to the distribution point, where they are sorted into one or the other of the distribution lines as a function of the backpressure acting on them. Especially in the case of fragile containers, however, it is possible for the containers to become wedged in place and then crushed in the area of the transfer point by the pressure of the containers coming up from the rear.